Fixed Up

A small town romance sent against the romance of the beautiful Dandenong mountains about loss, lies, and the courage to live true.

Forget the whole billionaire tycoon thing: Kate Moore is a billionaire’s daughter, and she knows first-hand that they’re not all romance novel worthy. Her father is brilliant, inflexible, and brutal – and nothing she’s ever done has been good enough for him. Her one chance to take over the massive Moore’s Hotel Corporation is restoring the run-down Burnham Beeches in beautiful Sassafras to its former glory. To that end, she hires David Wright, a talented landscaper with an unparalleled eye for beauty and an unparalleled talent for distracting her from her goal.

David really needs this job. He needs the contract, the Moore’s name on his portfolio, and the money to pay for his ailing father’s health. Everything he’s worked for is now within his grasp, and he’s going to reach for it with both hands. What he doesn’t need is the diversion, or the temptation, presented by his new boss.

Neither David nor Kate are free to follow their own desires, but they’re powerless to fight their growing attraction. But they come from very different places; perceptions will have to crash, misconceptions will have to collapse, and they will have to face their own personal challenges before they find their space to meet in the middle.

A Heart Stuck On Hope
Jennie Jones

Move to the country for $1 a week.

Dulili is suffering a people drought. Over the years more people have moved away than have arrived to stay in this old New South Wales farming town, and now only a handful of young families and elderly residents are left. The locals put a plan into action to entice newcomers: offering the town’s empty houses to newcomers from anywhere in Australia. Who could resist renting a beautiful homestead for a dollar a week?

There’s nothing left for Adele Devereux in Sydney: no job, no relationship, no hope, and no diagnosis for her shy, uncommunicative daughter Ali. So she packs her bags, takes her meagre savings, and moves her small family to the country. She never expects to meet Tom Wade, a man facing his own hopeless situation, but whose kindness reaches her daughter in an unexpected friendship. As the small town of Dulili attempts to regenerate itself, Adele finds herself drawn further in to the community – and into her attraction to Tom. Tom is not back in Dulili to build a relationship. He’s there to heal wounds, help his grandmother, and make new plans. Plans that don’t come with his grandmother’s new tenant, part of the Dulili dollar scheme. But as Adele and Ali effortlessly work their way into his thoughts and his heart, he realises that there are two crucial elements that he left out of his long-term plans – the chance to find love and renewed hope for the future.

Parallel Roads
Mel Teshco

What would you do, if you had the chance to revisit all your decisions, to fix all your mistakes?

Celebrity chef Jessie McCormick is incredibly late. Driving his Hummer to the opening of his latest restaurant seemed like a much better idea than flying, but incomprehensible directions and a dodgy shortcut throws him instead into the driveway of a rickety old house. Hopeful of finding the house occupied – and its inhabitants capable of directing him to Brisbane – he heads inside.

Voices lead him into the attic, and there he finds no direction – and every direction. The attic is an endless line of doors and ladders, each taking Jessie down a different path of his life. In one, he is a celebrity chef, fêted by the world. In another, his mother is still alive. In a third, his beloved sister is dead.

But in all of them is a small, dusty town and a small, dusty restaurant, run by a woman named Tara. As Jessie races to find his way back to his own life, he must make the biggest decision of his life: rescue his sister or take his chance at true love.

Love, Dogs, and Other Catastrophes
Coleen Kwan

He knew everything he wanted…until she showed him everything he never knew he needed…

Dog person, cat person: Joel Winslow is a money person. PetzBizz is facing bankruptcy, and it’s his job to fix it. Shoring up a business often means hard decisions, but Joel knows that short term pain leads to long term gains, and it is in everyone’s best interest to keep the doors of PetzBizz open. If only he can convince Andrea, the prickly part-time clerk determined to get in his way.

Andrea Ho understands jargon, and ‘restructuring’ means ‘slash and burn’. The last thing PetzBizz needs is some corporate drone coming in and making decisions based on money instead of compassion. But Joel comes with three adorable if unruly dogs, and Andrea is desperate for some extra cash. A side job doing something she loves seems like a perfect solution—and it allows her to keep an eye on Joel and PetzBizz. Unfortunately, Andrea likes what she sees just a bit too much for her own comfort—and it looks like Joel feels the same way.

Opposites may attract, but different values aren’t the basis for long-term happiness. When it comes to a choice between love and money, only one can win.